RAMADAN 2007 The 20th Day

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If you do not help him, God did help him when the disbelievers drove him out and there were two of them in the Cave. He said to his companion, "Do not be despondent, God is with us." Then God sent down His serenity upon him and reinforced him with troops you could not see. He made the word of the disbelievers undermost... (Surat at-Tawba: 40)

A person asked Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him): "What is faith?" He said: "When a good deed becomes a source of pleasure for you and an evil deed becomes a source of disgust for you, then you are a believer." He again said to Allah's Messenger: "What is a sin?" Whereupon he said: "When something pricks your conscience, give it up." (Tirmidhi)

Thinking about death and coming to terms with this truth are essential matters of consideration if one is to always act sincerely and in a conscientious manner. One who sincerely believes in the existence of Allah and the hereafter clearly knows that Allah controls not only life but also death. No one could delay nor advance his end. Death will come when Allah approves and under circumstances that He pleases. As indicated by the verse, "Every nation has an appointed time. When their time comes, they cannot delay it a single hour or bring it forward" (Surat al-A'raf: 34), one who is aware of this truth behaves with a clear mind, knowing he may have to face death at any time.Death will certainly come by Allah's will. It does not depend on one's age or health or whether or not he has acted cautiously. By the Will of Allah, a sudden accident, an unanticipated illness, or even a very minor cause could bring one's term to an end.

Anyone, who is capable of understanding the significance of death in its numerous facets, is aware that he could meet his death anywhere and at any moment. His life could come to a sudden end. That understanding directs him to always act sincerely, and to make the best possible use of his wisdom, conscience and abilities. He acts with the clear conscience that even in the next moment he may find himself having to account for his deeds in front of Allah. Thus, at any moment, he could be sent to Paradise or Hell. He spends his life in this world with faith and sincerity, as if he has already been to the hereafter to see Paradise and Hell, and has been fully assured that they are real and near. He passes each moment with a profound fear of Allah, as if he were to meet the angels of death coming to take his life, the book containing his deeds were to be opened, and as if he was awaiting the decision of whether he was to be sent to Paradise or Hell. He guides his behavior by always remembering the nearness and horror of the torment of Hell. He constantly retains the fear of possibly experiencing this torment forever. On the other hand, he also becomes filled with the hope of escaping Hell, and living an eternal life in Paradise as a servant befriended by Allah. He acts by knowing with certainty that vain excuses, such as "I did not know," "I did not understand," "I did not realize," "I forgot," "I became distracted along with other people who were unaware," "I behaved irresponsibly," "I followed the Devil" or "I thought that Allah would surely forgive me," "I was performing my religious duties and I thought this would be enough," put forth on the Day of Judgment before Allah will be useless.

Such awareness reveals itself in a strong conscience, firm comprehension, advanced wisdom and a consistent sincerity. As one knows that the advent of death is only a matter of time, he never puts off performing any good deed, never procrastinates or behaves lazily, under any circumstances, and never acts unenthusiastically. He considers that his life may not be long enough to be able to perform a deed that he plans to realize in the near future, whether in the next hour or the following day. He is aware that he might be greatly regretful in the hereafter for these incomplete or postponed deeds.

He knows that he must behave with an understanding of sincerity like that of the prophets. He avoids being among those who feel regret in the hereafter, and who will utter "I wish I had done more pious deeds, come to the aid of more people, behaved with high morality and led the pious and Muslims, devoted myself to Allah's religion more firmly, strove with greater effort to inform people about the morality of religion, ordered people to do good and prevented them from doing wrong, did not put off making myself ready for the hereafter instead of being carried away by worldly concerns, when I had the opportunity to become one of those who has succeeded today."

As he may face death at any instant, the more righteous deeds he performs sincerely, the more profit he reaps in return. He is aware that he must act with such devotion and sincerity in order to evade a dreadful end like Hell. He is conscious that behaving irresolutely, being reluctant to do something, or preferring the lesser among finer and better alternatives will cause him to remorse in the hereafter. His profound awareness and sincerity shine through under all circumstances; he adopts a sincere attitude in his approach unto Allah and in his respect, affection and genuineness towards Muslims, his fine morality, his self-sacrifices, his hard work, his worship, his prayers, that which he spends with his wealth and person, his words, his enthusiasm and his vigor.

The temperature at the Antarctic polar circle where penguins live can sometimes be as low as -40ºC. The bodies of penguins are covered with a thick layer of fat so that they can survive in such a freezing environment. Besides, they have a highly developed digestive system that is able to break food down very rapidly. These two factors furnish penguins with a body temperature of +40º C that makes them indifferent to cold.

EVERYTHING IS FOR THE YOUNG PENGUIN

Penguins incubate during the polar winter. Furthermore, it is not the female but the male penguins that incubate. Apart from the freezing cold falling down to -40º C, the penguin couple are also faced with glaciers at this time of the year. Throughout winter, the glaciers steadily grow, thereby increasing the distance between the incubation site and the coast, where the closest source of food for the penguins is found. This distance may at times be more than 100 km.

Female penguins lay only one egg, leave incubation to their males and return to the sea. During four months of incubation, the male penguin has to resist violent polar storms at times reaching speeds of 100 km per hour. Because it guards the egg, it has no chance to hunt. In any case, the nearest source of food is at a distance of a couple of days’ journey. Lying for four full months without eating anything, the male penguin loses half of its weight, but it never leaves the egg. Although it goes without any food for months, it does not go hunting, but resists the hunger.

In order to protect themselves from the polar climate that is extremely cold, penguins assemble closer together. Thus, the young members of the community get the chance to meet while being protected from the effect of cold winds.

After the end of four months when the eggs start to crack open, the female penguin suddenly shows up. In the duration, she has not wasted time but worked for her young and stored food for it.

Among hundreds of penguins, the mother easily finds her spouse and offspring. As the mother has constantly hunted in the meantime, it has a full stomach. It empties its stomach and takes over the job of caring for the young.

In spring, the glaciers start to melt and holes emerge in the ice under which the sea appears. The parent penguins soon start to hunt fish in these holes and feed their young.

Feeding the baby is a tough task; sometimes the parents do not eat anything for a long time in order to feed the young. There is no way to make a nest when everything is covered with ice. The only thing the parents can do to protect their offspring from the ice cold is to put it on top of their feet and warm it with their tummy.

Timing is also very important in laying eggs.

Why do the penguins lay eggs in winter, and not in summer? There is one reason for this: if they had laid eggs in summer time, then the development of the offspring would take place in winter time and the seas would be frozen. In that case, the parents would have difficulty in finding food to feed the young due to the inconvenient weather conditions and due to the fact that the seas, the food resource of the penguins, are further away.

WHY IS THE CLAIM THAT HUMAN AND APE GENOMES ARE 99 PERCENT SIMILAR AND THAT THIS CONFIRMS EVOLUTION NOT TRUE?

HARUN YAHYA

MANY evolutionist sources from time to time carry the claim that humans and apes share 99 percent of their genetic information and that this is proof of evolution. This evolutionist claim focuses particularly on chimpanzees, and says that this creature is the closest monkey to man, for which reason there is a kinship between the two. However, this is a false proof put forward by evolutionists who take advantage of the layman's lack of information on these subjects.

99% similarity claim is misleading propaganda

For a very long time, the evolutionist choir had been propagating the unsubstantiated thesis that there is very little genetic difference between humans and chimps. In every piece of evolutionist literature, you could read sentences like "we are 99 percent identical to chimps" or "there is only 1 percent of DNA that makes us human." Although no conclusive comparison between human and chimp genomes has been done, the Darwinist ideology led them to assume that there is very little difference between the two species.

A study in October 2002 revealed that the evolutionist propaganda on this issue-like many others-is completely false. Humans and chimps are not "99% similar" as the evolutionist fairy tale went on. Genetic similarity turns out to be less than 95 %. In a news story reported by CNN.com, entitled "Humans, chimps more different than thought," it reads:

There are more differences between a chimpanzee and a human being than once believed, according to a new genetic study.

Biologists have long held that the genes of chimps and humans are about 98.5 percent identical. But Roy Britten, a biologist at the California Institute of Technology, said in a study published this week that a new way of comparing the genes shows that the human and chimp genetic similarity is only about 95 percent.

Britten based this on a computer program that compared 780,000 of the 3 billion base pairs in the human DNA helix with those of the chimp. He found more mismatches than earlier researchers had, and concluded that at least 3.9 percent of the DNA bases were different.

This led him to conclude that there is a fundamental genetic difference between the species of about 5 percent.1

New Scientist, a leading science magazine and a strong supporter of Darwinism, reported the following on the same subject in an article titled "Human-chimp DNA difference trebled":

We are more unique than previously thought, according to new comparisons of human and chimpanzee DNA. It has long been held that we share 98.5 per cent of our genetic material with our closest relatives. That now appears to be wrong. In fact, we share less than 95 per cent of our genetic material, a three-fold increase in the variation between us and chimps.2

Biologist Boy Britten and other evolutionists continue to assess the result in terms of the evolutionary theory, but in fact there is no scientific reason to do so. The theory of evolution is supported neither by the fossil record nor by genetic or biochemical data. On the contrary, evidence shows that different life forms on Earth appeared quite abruptly without any evolutionary ancestors and that their complex systems prove the existence of an "intelligent design."

Human DNA is also similar to that of the worm, mosquito, and chicken!

Moreover, the above-mentioned basic proteins are common vital molecules present, not just in chimpanzees, but also in very many completely different living creatures. The structure of the proteins in all these species is very similar to that of the proteins present in humans.

For example, the genetic analyses published in New Scientist have revealed a 75% similarity between the DNA of nematode worms and man.3 This definitely does not mean that there is only a 25% difference between man and these worms!

On the other hand, in another finding which also appeared in the media, it was stated that the comparisons carried out between the genes of fruit flies belonging to the Drosophila genus and human genes yielded a similarity of 60%.4

When living things other than man are studied, it appears that there is no molecular relationship such as that claimed by evolutionists.5 This fact shows that the concept of similarity is not evidence for evolution.

"Common design": The reason for similarities

It is surely natural for the human body to bear some molecular similarities to other living beings, because they all are made up of the same molecules, they all use the same water and atmosphere, and they all consume foods consisting of the same molecules. Certainly, their metabolisms, and therefore their genetic make-ups, would resemble one another. This, however, is not evidence that they evolved from a common ancestor.

This "common material" is the result not of evolution but of "common design," that is, of their being created upon the same plan.

It is possible to explain this matter with an example: all construction in the world is done with similar materials (brick, iron, cement, etc.). This, however, does not mean that these buildings "evolved" from each other. They are constructed separately by using common materials. The same holds for living beings as well.

However, the complexity of the structure of living things cannot be compared to that of bridges, of course.

Life did not originate as the result of unconscious coincidences as evolution claims, but as the result of the creation of God, the Almighty, the possessor of infinite knowledge and wisdom.